Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

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24 hour information line

020 8332 5655

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020 8332 5197

All information is drawn from or provided by the venues themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.

Explore glasshouses, landscapes and 250 years of history at the world's most famous garden. Climb to the treetops on the Xstrata Treetop Walkway, delve into rainforest inside the iconic Palm House or discover more on a guided tour.

Discounts

National Trust

Additional info

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is spread over 132 hectares of landscaped gardens and attract over one million visitors per year. Kew was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2003 and represents over 250 years of historical landscape. The site houses over 40 listed buildings and other structures including the Palm House, Temperate House, Orangery and Pagoda as well as two ancient monuments, Queen Charlotte's Cottage and Kew Palace. RBG, Kew is a world famous scientific organisation, internationally respected for its outstanding living collection of plants and world-class herbarium as well as its scientific expertise in plant diversity, conservation and sustainable development in the UK and around the world.

Children: Children visiting the Royal Botanic Gardens are now able to learn about plants through play in a unique interactive learning area, Climbers and Creepers.

Parking: Three dedicated parking bays are available for disabled drivers near the Main Gate. There are also several spaces in our car park right next to the Brentford Gate which are free of charge throughout the year for disabled drivers. Parking on Kew Road (A307) provides easy access to Victoria Gate (restricted before 10am).

Large-print map: A large-print map, produced with the advice of the RNIB, is available at Ticket Offices and at the Victoria Plaza Information Desk.

Wheelchairs: These can be borrowed free of charge from all the entry gates and can be booked in advanced for Mondays to Fridays (tel: 020 8332 5121). Due to high demand at weekends and Bank Holidays we do not accept prior bookings, but on a first come first served basis. Attendants to push wheelchairs around the gardens are not available. Owners' electric wheelchairs of the type permitted by the Disabled Persons Act 1970 are allowed into the gardens for use on the footpaths.

Access: The footpaths and the majority of buildings in the Gardens are suitable for wheelchairs. There is, however, no wheelchair access to the Marine Display in the Palm House basement.

Toilet facilities: There are a number of disabled toilets within easy reach of all the main attractions and gates. These are indicated in the Discover Kew map (provided on arrival).

Exhibition details are listed below, you may need to scroll down to see them all.

Exhibition (temporary)

Kew's Heritage Trees by Masumi Yamanaka

21 February — 9 August 2015 *on now

Kew’s Heritage Trees features a stunning series of new paintings by Kew artist Masumi Yamanaka. The 40 paintings on display will demonstrate how Masumi was inspired by the beauty of the rare and iconic champion trees that grow here at Kew, some of which date back to 1762.

To accompany the exhibition, Kew is publishing Treasured Trees, written by Masumi Yamanaka, Christina Harrison and Martyn Rix. Beautifully reproducing all of Masumi’s unique paintings from the exhibition, this book is a celebration of trees, accompanied by an entertaining and informative text.

Tours restricted to a maximum of 12 people so booking advisable - email tours@kew.org.

The guided tours will cover themes including: the diversity of orchids and their cultivation in the nurseryinformation on the work on orchids at Keworchid research and conservationand the history of orchids at Kew.

There will be an opportunity to see a large and very diverse collection of orchid species.

Suitable for

Admission

Volunteer Guided Tour followed by Q&A session with a Kew horticulturalist £10Volunteer Guided Tour followed by potting and orchid care demonstration with Kew horticulturalists £15(prices do not include entry to the Gardens)

Website

Tropical Nursery behind-the-scenes tour

7 March 2015

Join a tour with our volunteer guides to discover fascinating and beautiful carnivorous plants, bromeliads, orchids and cacti and find out about the nursery’s plant conservation work.

The tours round the Tropical Nurseries, which are normally off limits to the public, are taken by one of Kew's experienced volunteer guides. You will be shown where our tropical plants are propagated and nurtured before they are planted out in the glasshouses.

Tours take place at 1.30pm, 2pm and 2.30pm.

Suitable for

Family friendly

Admission

Tour £10 (price does not include entry to the Gardens).The tours are restricted to a maximum of 12 people and are very popular so advance booking is advisable. Email tours@kew.org.

Website

Kew Lates

Spend a winter’s evening in a unique London location, Kew Gardens’ steamy Princess of Wales Conservatory.

Experience an explosion of warmth and colour, as you explore our annual festival of tropical flowers when the rest of the Gardens have closed for the day.

Enjoy a botanical cocktail from the Gin Garden pop-up bar, join one of the art and scent workshops or try your hand at botanical illustration. With talks, music and the stunning displays of tropical flowers, this is the perfect after-dark experience.

Suitable for

Admission

Website

Spring Spectacular Walk

Embrace Spring with a tour highlighting the best of the seasonal blossom, including well known and lesser know species.

Join one of our expert volunteers on a walk around the Gardens taking in the stunning colour of spring and our wide range of blossoming trees.

Come to the Guides Desk at Victoria Plaza at 11.45am (walk starts at 12noon). No booking required except for groups. (Groups of 6 or more people need to book a bespoke tour for which a charge is made. Please contact tours@kew.org)

Suitable for

Where

Admission

Website

Introduction to Planting Design

31 March 2015 10:30am-4:30pm

Have you ever looked at a colourful and well-designed garden border and wished you’d had the skills to create your own? This one-day course will show you how to measure-up and design your borders and draw them onto a plan.

Then you’ll cover the essentials of soil and aspect and, of course, the all-important business of selecting the right plants for your design. Examples of great planting design will send you back to your own garden, inspired and ready to plan.

Website

Introduction to Botany

Designed as a general introduction to the world of flowering plants, this one-day course is suitable for non-scientists and anyone keen to develop a deeper understanding of this fascinating subject.

With embedded practical sessions and a short guided walk through some of the living collections. The course will cover the variety of plant life, flowering plant structure, pollination, adaptation, taxonomy and classification.

By the end of the day you’ll have learned how plants are identified by using a botanical key and have a better understanding of the immense diversity of plant life.

Suitable for

Admission

Website

Plant Identification

Want to know how to identify different plants? Join our Plant identification skills one-day course to find out how.

Suitable for beginners, this new one-day course is designed to help you recognise the most commonly encountered UK plant families, whether they’re in the wild or in your own garden.

The day consists of practical sessions – including some fascinating detective work with microscopes – a presentation and a guided walk through Kew’s living collections. Highlight of the walk will be the Plant Family Beds, where plants are grouped together according to their relationship with each other.

By the end of the day you should be able to recognise a range of plant families, understand which commonly encountered plants are related to each other and have insight into flowering plant structure.

Climbers and Creepers

This website has been created for children aged 3 to 6 years old, to accompany Climbers and Creepers at Kew Gardens, a unique interactive play learning and play area. We hope that you will visit us.Children can meet the Climbers and Creepers characters through this website, have fun with our games and activities and learn about the importance of plants in the environment and how animals and plants interact and rely on each other.

Paper-based and downloads

Evolution House

A teacher's guide with student activities for use during, in preparation for, and for a follow-up visit to the Evolution House at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. It enables a differentiated approach and uses a variety of teaching and learning strategies for the study of plant evolution.For full details see:http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/education/evohse.html

Looking for Links

Teachers' pack showing how to investigate the connections between the natural and man made world. Investigations compare plants and buildings, flowers and clothes, roots and foundations.For full details see:http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/education/links.html

How to obtain

Available at the Victoria Visitor Centre at Kew and at the Mansion Shop at Wakehurst Place, or by mail order from:Mail Order SectionRBG Kew Enterprises LimitedRoyal Botanic Gardens, KewRichmondSurreyTW9 3ABtel: 020 8332 5170fax: 020 8332 5161Costs £12.00 plus £3.00 postage and packing in the UK.

Paper-based and downloads

Plants Across the Curriculum

Teacher's pack designed to make educational use of landscapes, varied climate zones, buildings, exhibitions and plants to be experienced on a visit to the Kew site at Richmond.For more detail see http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/education/patc.html

Spices

Teachers' pack with cross-curricular materials relating to the history and use of spices. Sections specific to history, geography, science and technology as well as opportunities to develop literacy and numeracy skills.For full details see:http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/education/spices.html

The Living Landscape of Wakehurst Place

Teacher's pack designed to make the most of a day in the garden. Contains background information, focussed assignments and recording sheets suitable for use by children at all key stages. Landscape and plants, human influence, plant collecting, habitat management and conservation are covered.For more detail see http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/education/llwp.html